Make your own lapstop stand / Serving tray

by Somu Padmanabhan

DIY Laptop Stand

Working from home is turning out to be more resourceful especially considering the commute distance. The low center tablehas always been where we laid the laptop while working. However, there are times during a call when we needed to work from the room, and it was not possible to move the table. And so the need to make a portable DIY laptop stand. While it was intended to be used as a laptop stand, here are other functional uses for this piece of furniture.

DIY Laptop stand

Serving Tray

The legs are foldable and when you are not using it for your work, you can use it to serve cookies, coffee, tea, or juice to your guests. It can be quite a conversation starter considering you are showing something you made right on the face of your guests ;) Your cookies may not be home made, but your serving tray - Completely home made and hand made.

DIY Serving tray

Zen tea table / Breakfast table

Enjoy coffee, tea, jasmine tea, green tea or whatever you enjoy having in the quiet corners of your home. If you are used to serving breakfast in bed for your loved ones, your own DIY laptop stand comes in real handy.

Zen tea table / breakfast table

The original idea was to decoupage this Paisley painting on top of the table, and so it can be used as a wall hanging. For some reason it did not work out. Can you think of any other functional use for this table ? Remember to click on tweet if you like this DIY.

How to make your own laptop table / serving tray

Start with wooden sticks that are 1" wide and 1/2" thick. Join these sticks together using glue and headless nails.This will be the base on which the top layer of wood will be installed

Base with wooden sticks

Cut a 6mm plywood and glue it onto the base sticks. You can also additionally nail it.

Plywood top

Have wooden sticks glued / nailed on top of the plywood along the borders. These sticks will form the wall for your tray.

Build wall along the border

On the rear of the tray in the making, install the legs. Since the legs need to open and close as desired, install them using bolts and nuts. The legs are made from the same wooden sticks used as the base, and are glued / nailed together in the shape of the letter "H".

Install the foldable legs

The laptop stand / serving tray in it's basic form. You can see how the top has three layers - the base, the plywood, and the wooden sticks (wall). Naturally, you need to cover these layers for your final look to seem like one single layer. You can use paste fillers and cover up the layers or use laminates, as needed.

Laptop stand

Finish the structure the way you desire. You have many options. Stain it. Paint it. Use laminates. Have a painted decoupage on top. Here's what we did. The entire structure is primed first. And then painted. The white that you see on top of the table is actually primer. The initial idea was to decoupage the top with the paisley painting that we earlier did. But somehow that didn't work out. So used an orange laminate.

Primed and painted

So, what do you think ? Do you think this piece of furniture would be functional in your home ? Can you find any more uses for it besides those listed above ? Preethi uses it to comfortably lay her feet on it while sitting on the couch. What do you think you can use it for ?

DIY laptop stand is really comfortable because the legs are foldable that’s why we can use it Zen tea table / Breakfast table. Enjoy coffee, tea, jasmine tea, green tea or whatever you enjoy having in the quiet corners of your home. If you are used to serving breakfast in bed for your loved ones, your own DIY laptop stand comes in real handy. I think The Turquoise Palace also is one of the best in Hand made Indian furniture.

HiThis looks great. The orange and brown is a good contrast. The brown : this is enamel paint right? And a doubt I have is what prevents the legs from buckling? Is there some stopper or something in the element to prevent it from collapsing under weight. Or should one be careful about the weight on the table.And this is a fantastic way to utilize the beading sticks.

Hi vinay, Thanks... Yeah the orange and brown make a great combination... Chose orange because it went well with the runner in the living room. You are right, the brown is the gloss enamel paint from Asian paints... There is no stopper, the edge of the wall that is formed using the beading stick acts as a natural stopper... I will try to post a picture of it for a better understanding... I did apply some pressure using my hands and it did bear it. Ideal for using with laptop... But will break if a kid stands on top of it... Not meant for heavy stuff !

That is indeed a great idea Vinay... I shall most certainly post on laminate... Wish I had taken enough pics while I was making this... There are mica cutters available... or a regular xacto knife will serve the purpose of cutting the laminate... Will make a post on this. Thanks for the pointer.

Hi Patty, thanks a lot :) We loved the idea too... It was inspired by some of the off the shelf products that we came across... IKEA cheats can work out to be great custom products. Do you have a picture ? Would love to see it !

Welcome to our blog and thanks for the feedback. It was indeed a fun project and I have been finding it very functional. You should try it out. I would love to know how it turns out when you start your work on it. Thanks for taking the time to comment :)

The Crane DJ Laptop Stand was created by Garett Fitzpatrick and Rob Noble on a bar napkin in Seattle in 2007. mobile laptop stand A conversation about the lack of a quality Adjustable Laptop Stands in the market led the two on a journey to create one themselves

Hi Somu.... had sen this earlier,but didnt give much thought to it cos i didnt think i will need one. but was going thru the additional uses..and then it struck me.. can be used as a portable pooja table. i do 'guru pooja' on Thursdays and a portable table helps when i am on the move :)

This is wonderful idea! Very smart and simple to make. However it would be great if you could also give a cut list or detailed measurements of each of the wood pieces that you have used. for eg. there are no construction tips on the legs of the tray. This would really help Thanks!

HI Ameet, your point is well taken.I sometimes leave things and I shall ensure that the DIY steps are comprehensive henceforth. Maybe making this laptop stand can be a separate detailed post by itself. Shall work on that. Meanwhile do let me know if you need additional inputs besides the legs and I can share them all offline. Thanks a lot for this feedback.

Thanks for your prompt response Somu. I am an avid DIY and woodworker myself. It would be great if we can connect offline and share best practices. I have learnt everything on my own as well as I am from a completely non technical background.